To repeal section 228.368, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof four new sections relating to the
improvement and maintenance of private roads.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

Section A. Section 228.368, RSMo, is repealed and four new sections enacted in lieu
thereof, to be known as sections 228.341, 228.368, 228.369, and 228.374, to read as follows:

228.341. For purposes of sections 228.341 to 228.374, "private road" with regard
to a proceeding to obtain a maintenance order means any private road established under
this chapter or any easement of access, regardless of how created, which provides a means
of ingress and egress by motor vehicle for any owner or owners of residences from such
homes to a public road. A private road does not include any road owned by the United
States or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or the state of Missouri, or any county,
municipality, political subdivision, special district, instrumentality, or agency of the state
of Missouri. Nothing in sections 228.341 to 228.374 shall be deemed to apply to any road
created by or included in any recorded plat referencing or referenced in an indenture or
declaration creating an owner's association, regardless of whether such road is designated
as a common element. Nothing in sections 228.341 to 228.374 shall be deemed to apply to
any land or property owned or operated by any railroad regulated by the Federal Railroad
Administration.

228.368. The costs of the proceedings to establish or widen a private road incurred
up to and including the filing of the commissioners' report shall be paid by the plaintiff; and the
court, as to any costs incurred in proceedings subsequent thereto, including the costs of the jury
trial, may make such order as in its discretion may be deemed just, including, in the case of a
proceeding to obtain a maintenance order, assessing the costs to all benefitted homeowners.

228.369. 1. For any private road subject to the use of more than one homeowner,
in the absence of a prior order or written agreement for the maintenance of the private
road, including covenants contained in deeds or state or local permits providing for the
maintenance of a private road, when adjoining homeowners who are benefitted by the use
of an abutting private road, or homeowners who have an easement to use a private road,
collectively owners or benefitted owners are unable to agree in writing upon a plan of
maintenance for the maintenance, repair, or improvement of the private road and
including the assessment and apportionment of costs for the plan of maintenance, one or
more of the owners may petition the circuit court for an order establishing a plan of
maintenance.

2. The cost of a plan of maintenance for a private road shall be apportioned among
the owners of residences abutting the private road and holders of easements to use the
private road, with the cost apportioned commensurate with the use and benefit to
residences benefitted by the access, as mutually agreed by the benefitted homeowners or
as ordered by the court with such method of apportionment as agreed by the homeowners
or ordered by the court, including, but not limited to, equal division, or proportionate to
the residential assessed value, or to front footage, or to usage or benefit.

3. The court may implement the same procedures to order and subsequently
determine a plan of maintenance for a private road as provided in this chapter for
establishing or widening a private road, including the apportionment and compensation
of disinterested commissioners to determine the plan and the apportionment of costs.

4. Where the homeowners who are benefitted by the private road are not able to
agree upon the designation of a supervisor to complete the plan of maintenance, the
commissioners appointed by the court shall designate a supervisor who shall be
compensated for his or her services in the same manner as the commissioners.

5. Any agreement executed by all the homeowners, or final order approving, a plan
of maintenance for a private road shall be recorded with the county recorder of deeds.

6. One or more adjoining homeowners or holders of any easement to use a private
road may bring an action to enforce the plan of maintenance for a private road, whether
as mutually agreed or as ordered by the court.

228.374. 1. A prior agreement or court order establishing a plan of maintenance
may be amended or modified and may be restated at any time by a recorded agreement
signed by all the homeowners or other benefitted owners.

2. No court proceeding under section 228.369 to amend, modify, or restate a plan
of maintenance may be filed sooner than seven years from the entry of a prior order,
except upon a prima facie showing that the real property benefitted by the private road has
been developed or divided in a manner rendering the plan of maintenance obsolete or
showing that the existing apportionment of the use and benefit to residences benefitted by
the access to the private road is no longer equitable.